Kerala: from a woman’s point of view
Dr. Susan Cherian, Professor - Pace University
Man has inhabited this land from time immemorial. Like many other civilizations, the origin of culture of in Kerala is shrouded in the mist of time. Many theories exist as to its development but none have confirmed the anthropology of the state. But what is most distinct is the fact that Kerala has been the most cosmopolitan and peace loving state in India. It has served as a melting pot for the cultures from the orient and the occident. A flourishing market of spices, she was called upon by the ships from all continents to collect the valuables and riches that made them. Ancient roman statesmen even chided their citizens for the extravaganza they showed in procuring luxuries from Kerala. Nowhere else in the world, not even in the most urban centers of the developed world would you find people with such diverse cultural and religious background living together in friendly and peaceful manner. When the Jews were driven out of central Asia during the BCs, they came to Kerala. When St.Thomas came here, he was amazed at the religious liberty given by the state to all it’s people. He established a church in Kerala in the year 52 AD when even Constantinople did not have a church. When prophet Muhammad founded Islam, Keralites embraced it and the kings here invited Arabic architects to raise mosques out of the sand.
This tolerance of cultural values have persisted through the ages precisely for the reasons of antiquity, unity, continuity and universality of its nature. In its widest sense it embraces the highest achievements of the human spirit in every sphere of life. Thus, in its totality, it represents the quintessence of the collective achievements of a people in the fields of religion and philosophy, language and literature, art and architecture, education and learning and economic and social organization. In fact, all through its history the genius of Kerala has blossomed forth in all its vigor and vitality and has helped its people to reach the peak of excellence in all their endeavors.
Life in Kerala is one of the finest in the world. The social indices in Kerala point to a figure of excellence that envies even states from Europe. Its festivals and festivities have woven together an intricate pattern of colors, flavors and the spirit of life.
Kerala is blessed with the natural bounties like air water and fertile land. Sandwiched between the mountains on the east and the vast oceans in the west, she has 44 rivers cutting across her length of 500 kilometers. 41 of them are west flowing and 3 of them are east flowing. They are rain fed by the monsoons every year, which paints a fresh coat of green on everything that springs from her surface. Waterfalls like the silver ornaments on a woman’s hair daunt the mountains and down below, her palm-fringed shores are kissed by the waves from the Arabian ocean.
We have the LARGEST Democratic government IN THE WORLD Many other countries try to follow us. One tenth of the population of USA is present in Kerala. We have the highest literacy rate in the world –in other words our kerala is saturated with highly intelligent people. As we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of India’s freedom let me just give you a glimpse of Kerala from a woman’s point of view and her role in the development of our country and culture.
This rich history and legacy of Kerala has placed her daughters –“The women of Kerala”- in a unique position. They are the “Powerhouses of Kerala families” I am an Indian, a Malayalee, and a Woman and I am proud of it. When you look up “Kerala” on the website, the first screen that flashes on the computer screen is “God’s Own Country.” One of the religious leaders from Kerala has aptly described Kerala as “a motherland where people live in harmony irrespective of their caste, creed or religion” (In Malayalam-Jaatibhetam, mathadwesham ethumillathe sarvarum sodarathwena vazzunna mathrika sthanamanithu – meaning we live in harmony and we have religious freedom and Religious tolerance) I am glad that I am a part of that great country. In “Gender and Religion in Kerala,” a report by Josh Andrix, he wrote “The state of Kerala in Southwestern India stands apart from other states in India and nations in South Asia for its rather unusual development.” This development, according to Brenda Maddox, includes a fertility rate at replacement level, India's lowest birthrate, lowest infant mortality, highest age of marriage and longest lifespan. Furthermore, Kerala's literacy rate is over 90%. These factors, among others, point to a unique development that has been studied by economists, environmentalists, political scientists and the like as “The Kerala Model.” Kerala was cited by Al Gore in a recent book as an example of environment-friendly development.
A famous Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "What lies behind us and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Little did he know that his quote would sum up the past, present and future of women. What lies before us is the most meaningful time ever for women. What lies within us is the power to continue this feminine revolution. The once considered submissive female gender is rising up. Today women have assumed higher roles in the society, in politics, in litigation, medicine, etc. Women have become activists against violence and proponents of human rights. Their worth has become defined by their accomplishments and ability to make a difference.
Women are great communicators connecting easily with people. They are resilient in the face of adversity and are networking pros reaching out for support. They are emotionally tuned-in and have the gift of expressing it.
Women have the courage to be honest and outspoken. When dealing with stress, they are still graceful. Best of all, women don’t need to compete with men to be successful. They can stand on their own, or be united to reach goals. Femininity is personal power and at no other time in history has society been so touched by the power of women. What Kerala's unusual development means for women is a heavily debated topic. Women are largely educated and daughters are thought to be as prized as sons. Kerala has been praised for its treatment of women because of characteristics such as these.
The Economic Review of 2004 wrote, “Women have a better, safer and longer life in Kerala than in other parts of the country.” According to the leading newspaper “Times of India of February 4th, 2005: “Malayali women are on top in every sphere of life. They are way ahead of their sisters elsewhere.” According to the survey in 2001, it is found that Kerala had a sex ratio of 1058 females per 1000 males, much higher than the country’s average of 933. Females make up 16.37 million of the State's 31. 84 million population. The life expectancy of women in the state is 75.9 years compared to the 61.8 Indian average. Crime against women has dropped in 2003 by 3.7 %. Rape cases declined by 24 % and molestation by 5.5% Torture cases, however, it showed a marginal increase of 1.1% said the survey. Women marry later (average of 22 years) than in the rest of the country (19.5 years).
63% of the women marry after 21 years compared to 25.9 per cent in the country, said the survey. But the Muslim-dominated Malappuram district proved a reverse trend where girls are married off earlier.
Women in Kerala have proved to the rest of the world that they are not enclosed within the four walls of her kitchen but she occupies high positions in every field of public activity. The Malayalee woman has an intense social sense, civic and national consciousness. She uses her freedom judicially and in the spirit of being an equal partner with man. Her role as wife and mother are performed well from time in memoriam.
Women have a better track record in education. Almost half the 4.9 million enrolments in the schools are of girls, the highest in India. And not just students, the state also has more women teachers than men – 68% up to high school and 54% in arts and science colleges. Education has only sharpened her intellect, widened her outlook and tuned her social and civic senses.
Their representation is great in the highly competitive world of athletics.
The survey said that even in decision-making, Kerala women are far ahead. More than 66% of the state's women have access to money compared to the country average of 59.6%. Women head more than 22 % households in the state compared to 10.3% in the country (But a major disturbing trend has emerged. Of late, the primary school enrolment, a sure indicator of sex-ratio shows decline in girl strength. In absolute terms, girl’s enrolment showed a decline from 9.15 lakhs in 2002-03. There were corresponding decrease in girl students in the higher standards. If this continue, the female-surplus status would soon be a thing of the past, demographers point out.)
Women in Kerala are able to be educated and have the opportunities that education affords them such as participating in politics, heading religious organizations etc. These tools have not translated into full, equal rights however. At Cochin University women must be in their hostels by dark while men are free to roam at any hour. Women's participation in politics is different from the rest of the country. According to Hindustan Times “women electorate outnumber men.” Kerala women's participation can quite justifiably be described as active and the proportion of votes cast by women has been around 50%. Still, the proportion of women among those contesting the elections and getting elected, tend to be extremely small. In the outgoing assembly of 1996, the number of women is a mere 13 in a house of 141. In 1957, their number was 6 in a house of 127. This statistics indicate that the situation has not further improved. A handful of women in Kerala have reached the top by their grit and determination. These have been isolated cases without reflecting any easing of women's entry into the higher echelons of political leadership in parties or government
Internationalist issue of March 1993 published an article named “Respect and respectability” by Nata. It was written, “Kerala women are the most respected and most liberated in India.” And that is probably the most repeated phrase in Kerala.” The fact remains that the women of Kerala are much better off than their sisters in the rest of India. Female literacy is at 87% – compared with the 29% in India as a whole. Kerala women have on average two children as opposed to four. They are far more likely to go into higher education. And they hold 30 per cent of government jobs. The women’s wing of the communist movement is to be thanked for much of this. Women were also at the forefront of the mass literacy campaign of the 1970s. It was virtually run by girls and young women who wanted to do something apart from getting a BA and getting married. “Female equality” in Kerala means women should be able to get jobs and contribute to the household income. That’s as far as it goes. It does not involve questioning roles or the whole nature of the male-female relationship. Key feminist issues like housework, domestic violence, women’s bodies and the meanings of masculinity and femininity, are not being discussed in Kerala today except among a very small minority of women.
Though Kerala rank top in women's literacy rate and education, the work participation sex-ratio shows a deviation. There are only 345 female workers per 1000 male workers which is lower than the national average (1991). The work Participation rate for women in 1991 was only 15.85 while that of men was 47.58 which is about three times that of women. This in turn indicate that women's share of earned income" in the state is only 12%. The above fact leaves the note that the higher rate of literacy/education among women is not a sufficient condition for gender equality in work. Along with low work participation, rates of unemployment and gender differentials in the labium market persist across the society. Unemployment rate is very high resulting in highest rate of suicide. Role of Media has played both, a Positive influence and negative influence in the growth and development of women’s liberation and exploitation.
I am sure you will agree with me if I add this how the women from Kerala has enhanced improvement in our Indian economy, “A large number of Kerala women, especially nurses came to this “great land flowing with milk and honey” because of their education and because of their ability to pass the very difficult NCLEX exam they were able to secure high paying jobs. Most of them helped their brothers, sisters and other family members to immigrate to this land. Our family members back in Kerala reaped the benefits from this. All of us sitting here from Kerala, have used some of our finances and other resources for the betterment of Kerala. I also have to give credit to the large number of Keralite women working in Canada and the gulf countries who also contributed to the improvement in the economic status of Kerala. Thus our Indian economy has benefited a lot through the women of Kerala”
Having said all these “good” I have to emphasize that there are areas where Kerala woman are far behind. One such example is: Information and communication technology - The IT World: A Man’s World: The paradoxical situation in Kerala of high educational attainment and the low visibility of women in the technical spheres extends to the IT world. While women are generally preferred in the data-entry stage, there is a higher percentage of men in Web Design and advanced stages of production. Moreover, a majority of the computer companies in Kerala prefer men to women as a long-term investment. (especially when it comes to the product-development level, because of the misperception that the women are less experimental. “While men and women adapt equally well to a new computer in their work environment, men tend to push the machine to new limits, where women tend to limit themselves to what has been taught to them though there are exceptions (says Software’s Babu). There is an impression that women cannot cope with the demands of ICT-based work, and that their priorities revolve around their families.
The usual reasons of ICT employers who prefer hiring men to women include: reluctance of women to travel due to domestic/societal controls (objections from parents/husbands, childcare/pregnancy); additional problems encountered with young and single women employees who travel, including their refusal to share accommodation with the opposite sex; the generally tight work schedule of ICT organizations, fixed deadlines and high-stress nature of the work; tendency of women to leave their jobs to get married, leading to the organization’s loss in terms of the training and time invested on the worker. “But it should also not be forgotten that women have a double work burden, and much of the constraints and so-called “inefficiency” of women are not a result of personal incapability but of men deciding what their priorities should be. (Aleyamma Vijayan, director of Sakhi Resource Centre for Women). Sakhi was established in 1996 to the amalgamation of women’s voices and experiences. As a training and information dissemination centre, the group’s focus is to gear grassroots women and activists for action, advocacy and lobbying, as well as policy formation. The centre’s mission is to empower and network grassroots women’s groups. The Challenges and Local Application: Synergy between one’s receipt of information and her application of this is needed. Because the issue of access is all-important, Sakhi has used translations to reach the masses. The strategy of repackaging the traditional trusted word to an unattractive page of grey matter, however, has its limitations and constraints. Malayalam, the regional language used in Kerala, is a tone-specific, gesture-intense language, but the language’s nuances and feel are swept aside in the translated versions. Within India, the diversity of dialects and languages is over-whelming, yet for women to inform and inspire change, they need to share their experiences closely. Inter-regional sharing of encounters is necessary, but the challenges of cross-regional translations are tremendous. Since the culture of globalization holds prominence, it becomes all the more crucial to insist that new technologies accommodate regional languages for future exchange. Here, ICT plays a major role: a software in Malayalam font is now widely used to encourage the local population to access ICT without hesitation. This has made it easy for women activists to express themselves via the computer. To paraphrase, Satish Babu of Inapp Software in Technopark, Trivandrum, networks don’t connect computers, they connect people, and women are better at networking than most men.” A number of women with the practical knowledge and insights of activists have been working at the grassroots level for years now. But there are many more women with indefatigable energy and athletic minds that are invisible. Several women’s groups and feminist individuals should be given recognition and be made visible, especially to the academe. Occupied and exhausted by their problems at home and at work, as their presence is required in both arenas, the women found participation in the world of research daunting. On top of technology’s rapid move forward to an alien planet of keyboards, monitors, computer languages, E-mail, and chat lines, the silence, privacy and basic self-reliance that research work requires can result in the alienation of these women.
The Malayala Manorama, the largest circulated daily newspaper in the India, recently did what no other newspaper has done in recent times: it ran a series of articles from January 30 to February 3, exposing the difficulties and trauma that women in Kerala-the most literate state in India- were experiencing in public, thanks to its men. The series was unique in its packaging. It had tremendous impact, and got an unprecedented official response. The article was Titled “How Kerala behaves with women” The newspaper in its introduction to the series said it was decided to run these articles “against the backdrop of the increasing incidents of atrocities against women in Kerala as well as the spiraling women empowerment initiatives in the light of Panchayat Raj.’’ The Chief Minister AK Anthony had recently told the Assembly that since he came to power - in less than three years - 326 women had committed suicide, 20 sex rackets were busted and 185 women were kidnapped. The series sought to find out how safe women were to travel alone, spend some time in a public place, go for a movie, etc, and the results were alarming.
Six women reporters of the paper - K R Meera, M Vineetha Gopi, Rani George, Subha Joseph, Neetha Mary James and Gayathri Muralidharan - traveled across the state, through the cities and district capitals, from January 14 to January 20, unescorted, to get a first hand experience of the safety and security that God’s Own Country was offering them. And they were mostly greeted with obscene comments, suspicious glances and physical advances especially while traveling in a bus or a train. Here are some of their experiences which came under collective bylines: On January 14, as soon as she boarded the general compartment of the Chennai Mail at 3.30 pm from Kollam (about 70 km from the state capital TVM), the reporter became the centre of attention. She was the only woman in the compartment and hands began reaching out to her from all directions. While she held on to a seat to balance herself, the passenger seated there decided to push himself back and rest his head on her hands. Those passing by made it a point to finger her, en route. Sensing danger, hurriedly she moved towards the door. But ordeal was not over. A man was sitting near the door, extending his legs casually across it, in such a manner that she had to cross over them to reach the door. On her request, he moved one leg and as soon as she moved forward, he kept the other leg intact, restraining her between his legs. The reporter requested several times and tried to push the leg with her bag, but bore no result. She was almost in tears when she could finally move out. The experiences of another reporter who boarded the Kannur-Kanhangad (the Northern end of Kerala) bus at 12 a .m the next day was no different. A middle-aged man chose to position himself against the seat where she was sitting and each time the driver applied brakes he would lean on her. Finally she created a wall between them with her bag! If the passenger was so undisciplined, the driver was even worse. He had positioned the mirror to focus on schoolgirls and was making faces at them! The reports revealed that if a woman was found alone on a beach or in a bus stand, more often than not she was taken for a sex worker. One of the reporters who went to the Kozhikode beach on an evening soon found a man sitting next to her, as if they came along together. The more the woman moved away from him, the closer he came to her. When she got up to leave she was confronted with teenaged boys whistling tunes. In Kochi, the commercial capital of the state, the investigative journalist had to run away from Marine Drive, the green patch facing backwaters. Exhibitionists presented themselves from all strata of society here, and added to this were policemen who had little concern for women preferring to come alone. When the reporter was walking towards her hotel from TVM railway station, auto-drivers chose to follow her in their vehicles uttering obscene invitations. They also continued to wait outside the hotel she checked into!
The only places the reporters felt safe were the state transport bus stands at Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram. While they were greeted with enquiring eyes from the public, the law enforcers were quick to react. Says a report: ``As soon asI reached the KSRTC bus stand at Ernakulam, the police approached me and asked where I wanted to go. On saying that I had to go to Kottayam, they showed me a bus headed for Madurai via Kottayam, and advised that I had better take it because the buses which were to follow would be crowded.’’ At the state capital also, when the reporter was waiting alone in the bus stand, disturbed by unhealthy gazes and furious observers, the police approached and guided her to the ladies waiting room. The autorickshaw drivers in Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kottayam were the remaining good souls. When the reporter reached the Alappuzha railway station by train at 7.45 PM, she requested an auto driver to take her to a safe place for stay. He consulted with the other drivers in the stand and took her to a paying guest home. The driver assured her of all security and was even ready to leave his name and address!
The Malayala Manorama also supported its reports with surveys. In a survey it held among 1200 women who travel frequently, 72% of the women said they were not safe while traveling. 60% said they had to put up with unruly behavior from men. 61% of the women had to travel frequently after nightfall too, and were found to be at a higher risk. Even those driving vehicles complained of men chasing them and curtailing their path. It was found that women going to movies were often pinched and kicked by men. Villages were found comparatively safer than cities and district capitals.
Despite many reform efforts to abolish the caste system and untouchability system, they still exist. The position in a high caste still holds some degree of power. Caste is probably more often known but not spoken. All of these castes are not isolated from each other. Most of the time, students at universities who study together come from different castes and religious backgrounds, and they may know each other's caste and religious background. Lower castes are often in the lowest paying jobs. Under the caste system a person in Kerala is linked to a group (a caste) that denotes a religion and a family labor history. While the caste system functions on some levels as codes of interaction in the world.
There are many exceptions to every rule in contemporary Kerala. For example, though arranged marriage by family still exists, some young people have “love marriages” that are neither arranged nor within the same caste. These may or may not be accepted by family and community.
We the women from Kerala have a greater challenge ahead of us. We have too many demons “to be dealt with and defeated” such as Sexual harassment, Prostitution, Dowry system and other such social vices.
Sexual harassment: Is this the price women pay for being ‘respectable’ or the price for not being so? Many women experience sexual harassment in their work places, while traveling in public transportation etc. women silently suffer, because, if they report or retaliate, they will be looked down upon, and they will be blamed for being the cause for sexual harassment. Once the system of men and women sitting apart on buses is broken down by over-crowding it’s open season for groping. The caution and respectability of Kerala’s women is clearly a strategy for avoiding abuse. But it is in itself a kind of abuse – abuse by suffocation rather than violation.
Prostitution: As in any developing or developed nations in the world, India is still struggling to come out of its clutches from the ever present and enslaving prostitution. The number of red light areas and the prostitutes are increasing at an alarming rate. The stigmas attached to the same prevents women and young girls to come out of it if they decide to do so or let me correct, if they are able to liberate themselves from the cruel hands of the brothel owners and women traffickers. The toll we have to pay is high and the diseases associated with the same such as AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are alarming cause of concern. That in itself is a great challenge to overcome.
Dowry system: Dowry system is “one of India’s most pernicious evils.” People here very proudly say “we do not have dowry deaths; “it’s not like in the barbaric North.” But that is not true. We do have dowry deaths – the difference is that they usually take the form of suicide. There is a very high incidence of young girls killing themselves because the dowry system is so oppressive and they do not want to be a burden on their parents. The newspapers recently carried a story about three sisters hanging themselves for this reason. Dowries in Kerala are phenomenal and, with the influence of remittances from Keralites working in the Gulf countries and USA are growing, this problem is also growing. What is so surprising to an outsider is that women in Kerala do not protest against it in any organized way. ‘Even the most educated women go along with it. “You have young women working just to raise money for their dowries. You have communist women going along with the system because they are afraid of upsetting their parents.” Dowry from the girl’s family has widespread social acceptance (though declining, it is still widespread) THAT is the root cause. Education is a hope, but widespread dowry practice even among the “educated” still persists.
There are many other “good” and “bad” that a Kerala women faces as in any other society. Each one of us hailing from the majestic state of Kerala has the responsibility in raising and keeping the bar high. Each one of us has to think “What am I best at, and what can I contribute for my land. Let us take up this great challenge on ourselves and Empower, Enlighten and Engage the Kerala women across the nation, to make Kerala a better place to live in. According to an article published in August 2005 named women’s education in India it is written like this. “It has been said that the educating a woman means educating the whole family.” And how true! Given that a woman has the responsibility of the whole family on herself, an educated woman is better capable of taking care of the health, nutrition, finances etc of her family. The effect of a mother’s education on her child’s health and nutrition is so great. significant that each extra year of maternal education reduces the rate of mortality for children under the age of 5 by between 5 % and 10 %, according to a review of extensive evidence from the developing world. She would be able to lower infant and maternal mortality. The effect of schooling in reducing the number of births means that for every 1,000 women every additional year of education will prevent 2 maternal deaths. She would educate her children and be a part of social and economic development of the community. Education has a direct impact on women empowerment as they become aware of their rights and their capabilities and get a chance to become independent.
But I must emphasize, educating the women alone, will not be sufficient to solve our social problems. We need to increase awareness among men about the currently existing problems and social evils as most of these problems are directly their contribution to the society. So increasing awareness among men is very important especially in the areas such as sexual harassment, prostitution, dowry torture and death so on and so forth. They need to be “taught” as to how they can improve their ways to create a positive impact in the “women’s world” – that is with the hope that men will change. So we have to educate men to improve “women’s world.”
No matter what background, religion or race we come from, we don’t need to look outside for validation. Our strength lies within. The world needs us. It needs our courage to forge ahead, our intuition to discern, our passion for humanity and our wisdom to see the big picture. Women must stand united in their feminine spirit to bring about global changes. There is nothing quite like women with a purpose, who rise to the occasion. Therefore let us – let each one of us – think about it seriously, and plan with friends and other fellow Keralites and see what we can do to reduce - I am sure we cannot completely eliminate them – and do the very best - our utmost- for the progress of our Land Kerala “God’s own country.” We can never have a perfect society as long as we live in an imperfect world. But as whole I have to conclude by agreeing with the writer Nata who says ‘Women in Kerala are so proper.’
Though we can do umpteen ways to improve our present status, the most important thing to do now or at any time is education. The value and the positive impact of education can never be emphasized enough. Educating both men and women is imperative for the future and development of a women’s world. Since problems such as sexual harassment, prostitution, dowry death, rape, molestation etc are stemming from men, raising awareness and educating men is of utmost importance. UNICEF has recommended that making education free and compulsory is the keystone of any national plan to eliminate gender disparity in education and achieve universal education. Faced with an economically driven choice between sending sons or daughters to school, poor families often send their sons. Removing fees or offering financial support to families with daughters in school, as well as explaining the advantages of sending girls to school, can make a real difference. Kerala may be a model, but it is a model in flux. Caste and gender in Kerala are still assessed, praised and criticized in equal measure.
Religion also can play a major role in improving the women’s world. Religion is relationship with God. When we talk about relationship the first and foremost matter of importance is “LOVE.” If we love our neighbor and love one another - men and women who are created equally in the image of God, we are indebted to respect and care for each other and help our fellow human beings in need. We belong to one family. A man who has the fear of God will not rape or molest a woman. A man who loves God will not ask for money for his life-partner, and will not kill her if she did not bring in large amounts of Gold and money. No God fearing man will commit adultery and then kill a girl or a woman. A man who truly has the fear of God will learn to care and respect a woman – who is created in the image of God. When our fellow human being – part of our family - are living in abject poverty and in a deplorable living condition, we cannot close our eyes and pretend that we don’t see those things. We must have a conscience that will cause our heart to prick which should result in action. It is a well known fact that in India, especially in Kerala, we have a huge gap between the “have”s and the “have not”s. If all those who have a lot gave to those who have less, we can reduce the major problems of not only Kerala, but all of India, in fact the whole world.
Some strategies to follow inside the classroom:
(UNICEF Recommendations)
· Making the classroom more child-centered and gender-sensitive
· Recruiting and training teachers who are sensitive to gender and child rights, and giving them a regular and living wage
· Promoting health in schools
· Promoting sports in schools
· Eliminating gender bias from textbooks and learning materials
· Scheduling lessons flexibly
· Teaching in local language
Strategies for outside classroom:
· Gathering gender specific education statistics
· Providing early childhood programs
· Enabling young mothers to return to school
· Taking special measures to reach the most disadvantaged girls
· Providing alternate education for girls who drop out
· Making a safe and productive environment
· Encouraging girls’ participation and activism for education
· Involving local community
· Supplying safe drinking water and toilets
· Decreasing domestic workload
These recommendations can be found in Indian Government policies and some action has been taken with respect to them. But, it is at a micro-level not up to the level that we would like to see.
References:
UNICEF, The state of the world’s children, http://www.unicef.org/sowc04/ , 2004.
Long and arduous road, http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/apr/edu-parity.htm, 2004
http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wid-9801.pdf
NCERT action plan, http://ncert.nic.in/sites/girls'%20education/Action_plan.htm NCERT Partner Organizationhttp://ncert.nic.in/sites/girls'%20education/partner_org
Bibliography: Antherjanam, Lalithambika. Cast Me Out If You Will. New York: The Feminist Press, 1997.
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